Robert's Rebellion (Histories
"Robert's Rebellion" is a collection of short videos included in the "Histories & Lore", a special feature present in the blu-ray set of Seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5 Game of Thrones. They provide accounts of Robert's Rebellion from different points of view, narrated, respectively, by Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon, Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth, Natalie Dormer as Lady Margaery Tyrell, Michelle Fairley as Lady Catelyn Stark, Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish, Conleth Hill as Lord Varys, Pedro Pascal as Prince Oberyn Martell, Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister. Synopsis Stannis Baratheon Stannis Baratheon reflects on his brother Robert's rebellion against the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen and his own part in it, as well as his bitterness for not being justly rewarded. Davos Seaworth Davos Seaworth recounts his lowly beginnings and days as a smuggler as well as the event that brought him into the service of Stannis Baratheon. Margaery Tyrell Margaery Tyrell details House Tyrell's loyalty to House Targaryen before the rebellion and to House Baratheon afterwards. Catelyn Stark Catelyn Stark reminisces on the rebellion and how it affected the family she was born into as well as the one she married into. Varys and Petyr Baelish Varys and Petyr Baelish debate the downfall of House Targaryen, the roles played by those involved and the status the rebellion has led to. Oberyn Martell Oberyn Martell discussed his sister Elia's marriage to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and the horrors that befell her and her children as a result. Barristan Selmy Barristan Selmy discusses events leading up to and during Robert's Rebellion and the role he played in these. Jaime Lannister To be added Stannis Baratheon's perspective Stannis Baratheon: My brother, Robert Baratheon had raised the banners of Storm's End, our ancestral castle, against the Mad King Aerys. Jon Arryn of the Vale and Eddard Stark of the North stood with him, and Hoster Tully of the Riverlands would join. But their lands were far from ours, and separated by the combined strength of the West, the Reach, and King's Landing itself. Even Robert's own lords were against him. It was the hardest choice I've ever made: my brother or my king; blood or honor. Aerys ruled by right of all the laws in Westeros. Everyone knew the price of defiance. But there are deeper, older laws: the younger brother bows before the elder. I followed Robert. Early in the war, Mace Tyrell's indecisive victory at Ashford cut Robert off from Storm's End. Instead of pursuing Robert, and risking his record, Mace Tyrell turned east and laid siege to our home. His vast army and navy encircled us and preventing any resupply by land or sea. If a wagon tried to reach us it was burned; if a ship tried to land it was sunk. We were locked inside Storm's End to starve. But Robert had commanded me to hold the castle no matter the cost. He could ill afford to lose his ancient seat, which had never fallen. While Robert smashed Rhaegar on the Trident, my men ate the dogs - because the horses had already been devoured. While the Lannisters sacked King's Landing, we his men ate the rats. If the smuggler Davos had not slipped through the Tyrell blockade with his onions, we'd have eaten our own dead. But I held the castle until Lord Eddard remembered us, and marched to lift the siege. The Tyrells didn't even put up a fight, and Robert threw a feast to celebrate Lord Eddard's "victory". I was sent to the royal island stronghold of Dragonstone to deal with Viserys and Daenerys, the last surviving Targaryen children. Before I arrived, however, they had escaped across the Narrow Sea. Robert was furious. He stripped me Storm's End, and gave it to that prancing fool, Renly - my younger brother. I could keep Dragonstone. Now Robert is dead, and a bastard pretender soils my throne while the realm fills with schemers and traitors. But the rightful King is coming for them all and I will not stop until he has scoured the land clean of abomination. The Baratheons say, "Ours is the Fury". I will show them... Fury burns. Characters * Stannis Baratheon * Lord Robert Baratheon (mentioned) * King Aerys II Targaryen, the "Mad King" (mentioned) * Lord Jon Arryn (mentioned) * Lord Eddard Stark * Lord Hoster Tully (mentioned) * Prince Rhaegar Targaryen * Davos * Prince Viserys Targaryen (mentioned) * Princess Daenerys Targaryen (mentioned) * Renly Baratheon * King Joffrey Baratheon (indirectly mentioned) Noble Houses * House Baratheon * House Targaryen (mentioned) * House Arryn (mentioned) * House Stark * House Tully (mentioned) * House Tyrell * House Lannister (mentioned) Locations *The Vale of Arryn (mentioned) * The North (mentioned) * The Riverlands (mentioned) * The Westerlands (mentioned) * The Reach (mentioned) *The Crownlands ** Blackwater Rush ** King's Landing ** Rosby *The Stormlands **Bronzegate **Griffin's Roost **Mistwood **Stonehelm **Storm's End **Summerhall * Blackwater Bay ** Dragonstone (island) ***Dragonstone (castle) *Narrow Sea Events *Robert's Rebellion ** Battle of the Trident (mentioned) ** Sack of King's Landing (mentioned) ** Siege of Storm's End ** Assault on Dragonstone Miscellaneous *Iron Throne (mentioned) Davos Seaworth's perspective Davos Seaworth: In King's Landing, if you leave the Red Keep and aren't careful, you may find yourself in Flea Bottom. In such a cesspool did House Seaworth have its glorious start. I got out as soon as I could, finding work on a smuggler ship. Soon, every port on the Narrow Sea had a bounty on me, which they would collect if I didn't pay a percentage to the right people or pick the right tide. You know how to tell a good smuggler? When you talk to one, there's a head that talks back. I was very good: Davos of Flea Bottom had run with orphans and beggars, but Davos the smuggler was received by merchants and lords... when nobody would catch them. Oddly, the only honest work came from pirates, like the notorious, bloodthirsty Salladhor Saan - an old friend. All he ever wanted was someone to buy his cargo quickly, before the tide left, and sell it without telling where I got it. In time, I saved enough to buy a small plot of land and found a woman who was kind enough to overlook my trade. She gave me a son, Matthos. And we dreamt of the traders' circle around the Jade Sea. Just one trip and I could settle us and our family for life. Then some stormlord revolted against the Iron Throne. Wars are not as good for smugglers as you'd think. Every harbor fills with guards and inspectors; and the seas fill with blockades and pirates paid by each side to prey on the other. Though I had no love for the Mad King, I had grown up around the power of King's Landing and figured this ''Robert Baratheon would end as the other rebel lords: burned to ash. But he didn't; The North, the Riverlands, and the Vale joined him. And in the taverns people drank to Robert's health openly. "Brave fools", I thought. But I had a family who'd be left in the cold if he lost my head.'' When Mace Tyrell marched on Robert's home at Storm's End, I spied the end of the rebellion. The castle was garrisoned by Robert's younger brother Stannis and a small guard, and would not hold out for long. When it fell, Robert would be homeless, and his support would bleed away. This, I knew from experience. Months later, Stannis was still holding the castle. Nobody cared. But on voyages, I had seen what famine does; and I thought of all those men in Storm's End, who would die unmourned and forgotten. No better than Flea Bottom orphans. I told his wife, and mymself, that I'd get a high price for the onions and salt beef. In truth, I knew I'd be captured by the Tyrell galleys or drowned. But I was too stubborn. Later that night, in the dark, in a tiny boat with a black sail, I cursed myself and the moonlight as I waited for the tide to turn. When it did, the wind beat the sail so hard, I ripped it down, fearing the Tyrell ships would hear. Luckily, they had grown lax. With muffled oars, alone, I steered his cargo through the treacherous currents and snarls of rock that gave Shipbreaker Bay its name. The waves finally carried me, soaked and near blind from seawater, through the mouth of the cavern beneath the castle. Then, Stannis Baratheon arrived. The siege had left him gaunt; but not weak, never weak. He greeted me and accepted my onions with cool courtesy, betraying no emotion, even as all wept. He doled out the food to his wife and each of his men before he ate himself, a portion no larger than any other. When he finally thanked me, I could see his mind had already returned to the castle's defense: his duty. After Aerys fell and Lord Stark lifted the siege, Stannis summoned me. For me salvation of Storm's End, I was to be granted a knighthood, a keep of his own, and my son taken into Stannis's personal service. "Davos of Flea Bottom" had become "Ser Davos of House Seaworth", and his son would serve the King's own brother. But, for his previous crimes as a smuggler, I was to have the fingertips of one hand taken off above the highest joint. Stannis held that I had flouted the laws of the land for years and a good act does not wash out the bad. In one fell swoop, or five, Stannis gave my son a future and my family a name that he could've never have imagined, nor earned, on his own. I still keeps the finger bones in a bag around his neck to remind him of what I was and I owe to Stannis. For, during my many years as a smuggler, I visited many ports, taverns and back alleys, and saw many things in this world, but never justice. Until Stannis Notes *Davos says that Stannis took the fingers from his off-hand in "five swoops": this is an error. Stannis only cut off the tips of his "fingers" - narrowly defining "fingers" to exclude his thumb. In the TV series itself, Davos visibly still has his right thumb when he removes his gloves. Characters * Ser Davos Seaworth * Salladhor Saan * Marya Seaworth * Matthos Seaworth * Lord Robert Baratheon * King Aerys II Targaryen, the "Mad King" (mentioned) * Lord Mace Tyrell (mentioned) * Stannis Baratheon * Selyse Baratheon (mentioned) * Lord Eddard Stark (mentioned) Noble Houses * House Seaworth * House Baratheon * House Targaryen (mentioned) * House Tyrell (mentioned) * House Stark (mentioned) Locations *The Crownlands ** King's Landing *** Flea Bottom *** Red Keep *The Stormlands **Storm's End **Shipbreaker Bay *The North (mentioned) *The Riverlands (mentioned) *The Vale of Arryn (mentioned) * Jade Sea (mentioned) Events *Robert's Rebellion ** Siege of Storm's End Miscellaneous *Iron Throne (mentioned) * Knighthood Margaery Tyrell's perspective Margaery Tyrell: Some great families call us "upstarts", but the truth is that while the Starks and Lannisters fell to the Targaryens in defeat, House Tyrell rose. For thousands of years, our family served as loyal stewards to the Kings of the Reach, until the last of their line unwisely burned to death, resisting the Targaryen invaders. To save the Reach from a similar fate, we yielded Highgarden to Aegon and his sisters. In gratitude, the Tyrells were given dominion over the Reach. And we became lords of the castle in which, for generations, they had served. Under the Targaryen dynasty, Westeros prospered. Gone were the petty wars of seven kingdoms and the endless thirst for minor glories that drove them. The Westerlands enriched the realm, the North guarded it, and the Reach and Riverlands fed it. This harmony is what Robert Baratheon shattered with his rebellion against Aerys Targaryen. When the call to arms came, though, we did not want to answer. The Reach is a gentle land and, honestly, the Mad King was not muched loved, but we owed peace and status to his family. My father, Mace Tyrell, called his banners and marched north to battle the rogue Stormlord Robert, who had already defeated three forces in a single day, and, at Ashford, my father won. Some chasten my father for not pursuing Robert after the battle. We had cut him off from the Stormlands, the seat of his power, and he had fled north, within easy grasp of Lord Tywin Lannister, the Hand of Aerys for twenty years. My father moved instead to lay siege of Robert's ancestral stronghold of Storm's End. "The rose" would strangle "the stag" as "the lion" pounced, so the we waited. But the lion of Lannister slumbered and Robert slipped past the King's forces to join Ned Stark. We could have lifted the siege and deployed their armies north to aid the crown. We ''could have stormed the walls of the castle and made Robert homeless. But we had ample supplies, control of land and sea, and most of all: patience. Our siege would succeed... eventually. At little cost of lives - to us. If Robert prolonged the war with minor victories, our capture of Storm's End would hasten his downfall. And if Robert won the war... Well, it wouldn't have done for him to find us within his walls with the bodies of his brother Stannis and his sworn men.'' When the lion finally showed his colors and "purged" King's Landing, we knew our cause was lost. My father chose the peaceful route and bent the knee to Robert, who heartily pardoned him. Strange, considered how we had beaten him and starved his brother to the brink of death. We were to keep their lands, castle, and title, but they knew they would never be welcome at court. It didn't matter, the Reach was still the most fertile of the Seven Kingdoms, and under our hand. Every flower, even the rose, needs pruning; then it grows strong. Characters * King Aegon I Targaryen, the "Conquerer" * Queen Rhaenys Targaryen * Queen Visenya Targaryen * King Mern Gardener * Harlen Tyrell * King Aerys II Targaryen, the "Mad King" * Lord/King Robert Baratheon * Lord Mace Tyrell * Lord Tywin Lannister (mentioned) * Lord Eddard Stark * Stannis Baratheon (mentioned) * Ser Jaime Lannister Noble Houses * House Tyrell * House Gardener * House Targaryen * House Baratheon * House Lannister Locations *The Westerlands *The North *The Riverlands *The Crownlands ** King's Landing *The Reach **Ashford (mentioned) **Highgarden * The Riverlands ** Gods Eye *The Stormlands ** Storm's End ** Summerhall (indirectly mentioned) Events * War of Conquest ** Field of Fire * Robert's Rebellion ** Battle of Summerhall (indirectly mentioned) ** Battle of Ashford (mentioned) ** Siege of Storm's End ** Sack of King's Landing Titles *Steward *King of the Reach *Hand of the King (mentioned) Catelyn Stark's perspective Catelyn Stark: "Family. Duty. Honor". Every Tully child learns our words, but I was a woman before I understood their meaning. Years before, my father took as his ward the son of a wartime friend, a minor lord on the Fingers. The boy's name was Petyr Baelish, but due to his home and size, my brother soon named him "Littlefinger". When I came of age, Brandon Stark of Winterfell sought and won my hand. To my father, Brandon was heir to the North and a suitable match for a daughter of House Tully. To me, Brandon was wild and terrifying, never far from laughter or trouble. I loved him with all the fire of a first passion, much, I came to realize, as Petyr loved me. When Petyr heard of my engagement, he challenged Brandon to a duel. Petyr survived only because I begged Brandon not to kill him - I still thought of Petyr as family. Now, I wish I had let him die. Only days before my wedding, when I thought I would be happy forever, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen abducted Brandon's sister, Lyanna. Hotblooded as always, Brandon immediately rode for King's Landing to demand justice, which the Mad King Aerys Targaryen gave him, in his own twisted fashion. The day the raven arrived with news of my Brandon's death, I locked myself in my room and refused to eat for days, until my father reminded me of my duty. I was to marry Eddard, Brandon's younger brother, a man whom I had never met, of whom none spoke ill, or spoke anything at all. Our union would cement an alliance of the North, Vale, Stormlands, and Riverlands in rebellion against the Mad King. I was Tully, I did my duty. We were married quickly, and were spared only one night before he had to return to the field. I spent the war by the window, waiting for a raven to hear if my child would grow fatherless, or at all. We knew the price of defeat. I scoured the kitchens and washing rooms for any and all gossip: Robert had won, and crushed the Mad King! Robert had lost, but Jaime Lannister was now King. Robert had almost won, but the Mad King had become a dragon and burned King's Landing to ash. At night, I told herself the war would end soon and bring peace: either a victory... or the grave. I was wrong. Robert won, and my husband avenged his brother and my love. But when he came home to me, he could not meet my eyes. I saw the reason... by his side. Many men have bastards, I know, and under the strain of war any man, no matter how honorable, may forsake his vows for a night of warmth that he may never know again. But Ned Stark was not built like other men. His northern honor would not let him sequester his shame in some distant holdfast. He brought this boy, this "Jon Snow", home to raise with his trueborn children. My children. Yet these bitter memories to be sweet now. They are all she has left of my Ned. Our family is broken, and scattered... and our son must wage a war for the pieces. We need to go home; the Starks are of the North and, like the snows of winter, when they come south... they melt away. Characters * Lady Catelyn Tully * Lord Hoster Tully * Petyr Baelish * Edmure Tully (indirectly mentioned) * Brandon Stark * Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (mentioned) * Lyanna Stark (mentioned) * King Aerys II Targaryen, the "Mad King" (mentioned) * Lord Eddard Stark * Lord Robert Baratheon (mentioned) * Ser Jaime Lannister (mentioned) * Robb Stark * Jon Snow * Sansa Stark Noble Houses * House Tully * House Baelish * House Stark * House Targaryen (mentioned) Locations * The Riverlands ** Riverrun * The North ** Winterfell * The Vale of Arryn ** The Fingers (mentioned) * The Stormlands (mentioned) * King's Landing (mentioned) Events * Robert's Rebellion ** Abduction of Lyanna Stark (mentioned) ** Execution of Rickard and Brandon Stark (mentioned) Miscellaneous * Ravens (mentioned) * Dragons (mentioned) Varys and Petyr Baelish's perspectives Varys: For three hundred years the Targaryen dynasty ruled Westeros. Wars were still fought, homes still burned and men still died; but compared to the chaos of what came before, the realm was stable. Petyr Baelish: And boring. The Targaryens lied, killed and thieved as much as other lords, they just had dragons to answer all complaints. Until they didn't. '' ''When the last dragon died, it was only a matter of time before the Targaryens followed. Varys: By "only", you mean another century? Baelish: Which they wasted that century trying to replace their lost advantage: incinerating their own palaces to hatch dragon eggs; drinking wildfire to become dragons; and, let's not forget the Mad King's favorite, burning men alive so he could pretend to be a dragon. Varys: We urged Aerys to pardon Brandon Stark. The boy had threatened Prince Rhaegar, but Rhaegar had stolen the boy's sister - and the boy was the eldest son of our Warden of the North. Baelish: Who is the greater fool: a mad king or the man who reasons with him? Aerys saw knives in every shadow. When you told him to treat the Starks with caution, he made him afraid and what he feared he killed. Varys: I wouldn't have thought you of all people would bother with recriminations for Brandon's death, Lord Baelish. Not after your... shall we call it "duel", with him. Baelish: Brandon was as arrogant as he was stupid; like his father, Lord Stark, who answered Aerys' summon to the capital. They earn their fates. But the younger son, Ned, what was his crime - that Aerys ordered his death as well? Varys: Unlike men, families do not die when you lop off their head. Baelish: At the very least, you should have pointed out that loyal and dutiful Ned was living with Jon Arryn, a proud and over-righteous lord with an impregnable castle and no sons of his own. Perhaps you could have spared Aerys the "embarrassment" of revolt. Varys: If only we'd had the foresight to consult you, Lord Baelish; but I suppose first we'd have had to know who you were. Baelish: Nobody knew Robert Baratheon either, yet he claimed the right to sit on the Iron Throne. Varys: He had Targaryen blood, through his mother. Baelish: A pretty dress for an ugly truth: it was war; and he could swing a hammer harder than the other options. When did you know you'd lost, Lord Varys? Varys: When Robert Baratheon killed Prince Rhaegar on the Trident. Baelish: Wrong. You lost the war when you let Ned Stark slip back into The North. Neither the Bloody Gate of the Vale or Moat Cailin in the North have ever fallen. They could have held out for years even if you'd killed Robert, but you let him slip through his fingers as well. Varys: I told the court that Robert was hiding in the Stoney Sept, but the Hand of the King wasted too much time searching the city. Something about the glory of single combat. Then Ned Stark's army arrived to save the day. Baelish: Too bad Lord Tywin wasn't Hand any longer. He would have simply... razed the town and been done with it. Varys: Perhaps. And perhaps the rebels would have found even more of the countryside flocking to their banners. Baelish: I'd almost forgotten. You weren't always so loyal to the Lannisters during the war. Were you? Varys: I did my duty to the realm. When Lord Tywin showed up at King's Landing professing loyalty, he warned Aerys not to open the gates. Prince Rhaegar was dead, our army scattered. "The lion does not stir unless he smells meat". Baelish: I admire your powers of persuasion, Lord Varys. Few could traffic on so many secrets to so little avail. '' '''Varys:' Grand Maester Pycelle told Aerys what he wanted to hear: that his old friend Tywin was there to save him. Baelish: Then Aerys's "old friend" sacked the city, and his son stabbed Aerys in the back. Varys: A regrettable though necessary action. Baelish: As were the pardons the new King Robert bestowed upon the royalists: Mace Tyrell, Barristan Selmy, you. Varys: King Robert wisely chose order over vengeance. Baelish: Jon Arryn wisely chose for Robert. But Jon Arryn died, then Robert, then Ned. So endeth their glorious revolution. Varys: And Westeros has been burning ever since. Baelish: Let it. Varys: How Targaryen of you. One of the mad ones. Baelish: Fire turns even the proudest oaks to ash, leaving newer roots space to climb... Notes *A point which might cause some confusion is that Varys says that "we" warned King Aerys, which some might mistake to imply that Littlefinger was also on the Small Council at the time. However, later in the video Varys makes a separate jab that no one at court even knew who Baelish was at the time, because he was still a minor lord living in the Vale, so this is not a change from the books. *A rather large break with book continuity is introduced by this segment. In Season 1, Maester Aemon stated that Mad King Aerys was his brother's son, not his brother's grandson. In the books, Aemon's younger brother Aegon V Targaryen became king (after Aemon refused the crown due to his vows), and was later succeeded by his son Jaehaerys II, a good but physically frail man who died after ruling only three years. King Aerys II and Queen Rhaella Targaryen were the children of Jaehaerys II. Aemon's statements in the TV series, however, seemed to skip Jaehaerys II. The TV writers later confirmed that Jaehaerys II has indeed been omitted from the TV continuity - they have not stated why, but possibly just to simplify the relationship between Aemon and Daenerys. The major problem this change introduced is that House Baratheon intermarried with House Targaryen in that generation: Aegon V's daughter (and Jaehaerys II's sister) Rhaelle Targaryen married the lord of House Baratheon, and their son was Steffon Baratheon, the father of Robert, Stannis, and Renly. Robert Baratheon's entire claim to the throne was based on the technicality that he had Targaryen blood through Rhaelle (though even this video points out that it was a pretext and he won the crown through warfare). When the TV series omitted Jaehaerys II, no information was provided on exactly how the Baratheons intermarried with the Targaryens in the new, altered continuity - the Season 1 animated featurettes even somewhat implied that in order to simplify the story, Robert's "Targaryen blood" came purely from Orys Baratheon, the founder of House Baratheon and rumored bastard half-brother of Aegon the Conqueror (which would be complicated, given that Orys is widely believed to have been Aegon's half-brother but this was never proven). In either scenario, the Targaryen bloodline passed through Robert's father Steffon: either Steffon's mother was a Targaryen (though her exact place in the family tree is uncertain due to the omission of Jaehaerys's generation), or the Targaryen bloodline passed down from father-to-son among the Baratheon men, from Steffon through Orys. In this video, however, Varys clearly states that Robert possessed Targaryen blood "through his mother" - Cassana Baratheon, born into House Estermont. It is unclear how to reconcile this new information. It is possible that in the TV continuity, Steffon Baratheon may have married a Targaryen daughter or that Cassana Estermont had Targaryen blood through her mother. Characters *King Aegon I Targaryen, the "Conquerer" *King Aegon III Targaryen, the "Dragonbane" (not mentioned by name) *King Daeron I Targaryen, the "Young Dragon" (not mentioned by name) *King Baelor Targaryen, the "Blessed" (not mentioned by name) *King Maekar Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *King Aegon V Targaryen, the "Unlikely" (not mentioned by name) *Prince Aerion Targaryen, "Brightflame" (indirectly mentioned) *Last dragon (mentioned) *King Aerys II Targaryen, the "Mad King" *Varys *Brandon Stark *Lyanna Stark (mentioned) *Petyr Baelish *Lord Rickard Stark (mentioned) *Lord Eddard Stark *Lord Jon Arryn *Lord/King Robert Baratheon *Lady Cassana Baratheon (mentioned) *Prince Rhaegar Targaryen *Lord Jon Connington (indirectly mentioned) *Lord Tywin Lannister *Grand Maester Pycelle *Ser Jaime Lannister *Lord Mace Tyrell (mentioned) *Ser Barristan Selmy (mentioned) Noble Houses *House Targaryen *House Stark *House Arryn *House Baratheon *House Lannister Locations *King's Landing **Red Keep *The Vale of Arryn **The Eyrie **Bloody Gate (mentioned) *The North **Moat Cailin (mentioned) *The Riverlands **Stoney Sept **The Trident Events *Tragedy of Summerhall (mentioned) *Robert's Rebellion ** Abduction of Lyanna Stark (mentioned) ** Execution of Rickard and Brandon Stark (mentioned) **Battle of the Bells **Battle of the Trident **Sack of King's Landing Miscellaneous *Dragons (mentioned) *Wildfire (mentioned) *Iron Throne *Small council *Grand Maester Oberyn Martell's perspective Oberyn Martell: Twice the Targaryens tried to conquer Dorne with soldiers. Twice they failed. Only when the dragon kings came bearing husbands and wives did my ancestors relent and agree to join their Seven Kingdoms. House Martell could have waged war until the end of days, but how could we resist a peace they could take to bed? For centuries the Iron Throne had no more loyal ally than the Princes of Dorne. Since the Martells had never fallen to them, we kept our ancestral title. Perhaps this is what drew Rhaegar Targaryen to us. His royal parents had not produced a sister for him to wed, so he had to look elsewhere for a princess and there was only one in Westeros: Elia of House Martell, my sister. She was not the most beautiful woman in the world or even in Dorne, but, rare for a woman from our land, her flower came with no thorns. She was kind and clever with a gentle heart. I loved her; I feared for her. For years I fended off lesser men from her, but even I failed when Rhaegar came. Rhaegar was beautiful and the crown prince of the Seven Kingdoms, and our mother had worked so hard to secure the match - how could Elia not accept it? They were wed and he took Elia from her home, from those who loved her and would die for her and locked her in his Red Keep above his sty of a city surrounded by false friends. She bore him a a daughter and a son, though each almost cost her her life. Elia loved Rhaegar, she obeyed him and he chose to steal away Lyanna Stark, a pale northern girl whose veins ran with ice like all of her people. Instead of disciplining his faithless son, King Aerys executed the Starks when they came seeking justice and ignited a revolt. I knows how the maesters describe the war now but calling it "Robert's Rebellion" does not change what it was: the War of the Usurper. Dorne sided with the crown, for when we swear oaths, we keep them. We needed no threats from King Aerys, though he made them anyway, locking Elia and her children in the Red Keep to ensure our loyalty. Even in his madness, he knew that no true Dornishman would ever take up arms against our beloved princess and that we would fight to the death for whatever side she was on. At the Trident, Dorne lost ten thousand men and two princes: My uncle in the Kingsguard and Elia's gallant husband Prince Rhaegar, who was too slow or too arrogant for Robert's warhammer. As Robert's army marched on King's Landing, the Mad King sent his own wife and child away, but kept my sister and hers inside. In his madness, Aerys though the Dornish had betrayed his son at the Trident and was only too happy to welcome his one true friend back into his ranks: Tywin Lannister. Lord Tywin's army sacked his friend's city while Lord Tywin's son murdered the king he had sworn to protect. All of this could have been forgiven: war is terrible and men must become terrible to wage it. But the Lannisters knew that as long as Elia and her children, Prince Rhaegar's heirs, lived, no usurper could safely sit the Throne. So Lord Tywin's dog, "Ser" Gregor Clegane - the Mountain -, made Elia watch as he murdered her daughter and dashed her infant son's head against a wall. Then with her baby's blood still on his hands, he raped Elia and murdered her. When Lord Tywin later presented their bodies to Robert Baratheon wrapped in pretty Lannister cloaks, I have been told the red colour graciously hid the blood from men's eyes. The Targaryens talk of fire and blood. In Dorne our blood is fire. If Robert Baratheon had dared set foot in Dorne during his reign, he would have lost the foot, and it is not even him we blame for Elia. The Lannisters think their gold buys them power. The Lannisters think their Mountain buys them strength. But if they want peace, they cannot buy it with mountains of gold or one Mountain of steel. They must pay in blood. Characters *King Daeron II Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *Queen Myriah Martell (not mentioned by name) *Princess Daenerys Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *Prince Maron Martell (not mentioned by name) *King Aerys II Targaryen *Prince Rhaegar Targaryen *Princess Elia Martell *Prince Oberyn Martell *Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *Prince Aegon Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *Lyanna Stark *Lord Rickard Stark (indirectly mentioned) *Brandon Stark (indirectly mentioned) *Ser Jaime Lannister (not mentioned by name) *Lord Robert Baratheon *Prince Lewyn Martell (indirectly mentioned) *Queen Rhaella Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *Prince Viserys Targaryen (not mentioned by name) *Ser Gregor Clegane *King Joffrey Baratheon (named on letter) *Margaery Tyrell (named on letter) *Lord Mace Tyrell (named on letter) Noble Houses *House Martell *House Targaryen Locations *King's Landing **Red Keep ***Great Hall Events *Wars of Conquest *Conquest of Dorne (indirect mention) *Robert's Rebellion **Abduction of Lyanna Stark (mentioned) **Battle of the Trident **Sack of King's Landing Miscellaneous *Iron Throne Barristan Selmy's perspective Barristan Selmy: "Barristan the Bold" they call me to my face. I know what they say behind my back; Barristan the Old. That is true; I am old, with hair as white as all the winters I have seen. The older a man grows, the less sleep he needs. These days I barely sleep at all. When darkness falls over this strange city, I find myself visited by the faces of the kings I have served. The faces of those I swore to protect. The faces of those I failed. All I ever wanted was to live a life of honor, defending a king worthy of service. During the War of the Ninepenny Kings, I sought out Maelys the Monstrous, last of the Blackfyre pretenders, who had started this whole war. Maelys believed that his Targaryen blood gave him a claim to the Iron Throne. I made sure that his blood claimed nothing more than the dirt around his corpse. To show his gratitude, the King elevated me to his Kingsguard. It was the proudest moment of my life. But that king died, and I wasn't with him. Not that I could have saved him if I had been. But still, I vowed to do better with his son, young Prince Aerys. For twenty years, his reign was peaceful and prosperous. Aerys was well loved by his people and respected by his lords. But as years went on, Aerys' temper soured. He became obsessed with dragons and fire, and the swords of the Kingsguard couldn't defend him from the enemies he saw lurking in every shadow. My king went mad. But there was hope; his son and heir. Prince Rhaegar was everything a kingdom could hope for in a ruler; he was strong but gentle, wise and cautious, and a good friend. Not matter the wounds Aerys dug into the realm, we had faith that his son would sew it back together again when he ascended the throne. Then came Lord Whent's tourney at Harrenhal, the largest ever in Westeros. I unhorsed every man against me until only Prince Rhaegar remained. We each set our feet in our saddles and lowered our lances and charged, and I fell. Muddy and bruised, I then watched Rhaegar present Lyanna Stark with the victor's crown of roses, though she was betrothed to Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar himself was married to Elia Martell. We all know what happened after. If I had I been a bit quicker with my lance, had I chosen a faster horse, perhaps I could have spared the kingdom from the destruction that came after. Or if I had thought to warn Brandon Stark against his rashness. He came to King's Landing himself demanding Rhaegar return his sister. Poor fool; if he had only known the depth of Aerys' madness, he wouldn't have dared provoke him. Aerys ordered Brandon imprisoned, while I could do nothing but obey. When Brandon's father, Lord Rickard Stark, came to King's Landing to beg for his son, Aerys burned him alive, while I could do nothing but watch. I had sworn a vow to a mad king and was honor bound to obey him, even at the cost of my soul. Ravens soon arrived with dark news for the king; The Vale was in open revolt. Demanding Lyanna Stark's return, Robert Baratheon was smashing any army that dared face him. Eddard Stark, Brandon's younger brother, was marching the whole of The North down The Neck, and had taken Catelyn Tully, Brandon's betrothed, for his own, thus winning the support of The Riverlands. The king sent ravens to Casterly Rock to beg his former Hand, Tywin Lannister, for help...and no ravens returned. A plan was devised; Prince Rhaegar would personally lead the royal forces, now reinforced with ten thousand Dornishmen, north to face Robert, while the Kingsguard, Lewyn Martell and I, would ride with the prince. Before we left, the prince confided in me that when he returned from this battle, there would be a great many changes in court. Despite my vows to the king, I confess I was excited. On the march to face Robert's army, we were sure we would win. We had superior numbers and we had Prince Rhaegar. His presence lifted the spirits of our men and he looked every inch the king he was destined to become. But at The Trident the gods played a cruel joke. Robert proved the Baratheon words as his army smashed through our lines. Lewyn Martell was killed, I fell in combat badly wounded and could do nothing but watch as Robert's warhammer ended Rhaegar's glorious reign before it began, and the kingdom that would never be washed away down the Trident with his life's blood. Yet Robert spared me, insisting his personal Maester tend to my wounds out of respect. But respect for what? A Kingsguard shouldn't survive one king, let alone two, and one who should have been. I swore an oath to House Targaryen, and I failed them. All that is left of their fire is a single ember halfway across the world, surrounded by darkness. If the gods were good, I would still be young in the fullness of strength. But whatever the cost, I will not let this ember go out. This time I will not fail. Notes *Barristan says in the video that before riding out to the Battle of the Trident, Prince Rhaegar told him in private that "a great many things" would change in King's Landing if they won and defeated Robert - heavily implying to him that he intended to remove his own father King Aerys from the throne, due to his insanity tearing the realm apart. In the novels, Rhaegar actually said this to Jaime Lannister, who was also in the Kingsguard: Jaime felt his place was at Rhaegar's side but the Mad King demanded he remain at the royal court (as a glorified political hostage to deter his father Tywin from siding with the rebels). Jaime begged Rhaegar to rescind his father's command, but Rhaegar didn't want to appear insolent to his father so he couldn't. Wavering, Rhaegar told Jaime he wished he had done something about his father's growing insanity sooner, but it is a hard thing to turn on your own father, and he never thought it would get this bad until it already did (after his father had already killed Rickard and Brandon Stark in a fit of madness). Rhaegar even mentioned to Jaime that he considered calling for a Great Council - an assembly of the great lords of the realm called to sort out a succession crisis, rarely convened (though one was called to put Aegon V on the throne), which very strongly indicates he had been mulling if he should take steps to remove his father from the throne before his insanity destroyed their dynasty. Rhaegar then admitted that it wasn't worth worrying about the path not taken and what he might have done, and he was stuck in the position he was in now - then he departed for the Trident. Though the novels depicted Rhaegar saying this to Jaime (in flashback in one of Jaime's POV chapters), there is nothing to say he didn't also tell Barristan as one of his other trusted Kingsguard (if anything, Rhaegar would have been more likely to tell Barristan, given that Jaime had only been in the Kingsguard for a year and some considered his loyalties divided). *This video answers a longstanding question raised in Season 1 about when the War of the Ninepenny Kings took place. In the novels, Aerys II "the Mad King" was the grandson of King Aegon V, not his son. Aegon V's son was King Jaehaerys II, who was a good but sickly man who only ruled for three years before dying young, at which he was succeeded by his son Aerys II. Season 1 of the TV series had Aegon V's brother Maester Aemon state that Aerys II was Aegon V's son, however, and the writers have directly confirmed in interviews that this was an intentional change (apparently to simplify the story due to Jaehaerys II's brief reign, possibly to simplify the relationship between Aemon and Aerys II's daughter Daenerys). In the novels, however, the War of the Ninepenny Kings occurred during Jaehaerys II's reign - and indeed broke out after Aegon V died because Maelys Blackfyre saw this as the opportune time to strike, while the new king was unfamiliar in power. By removing Jaehaerys II, the war would have had to occur either at the end of Aegon V's reign, or at the beginning of Aerys II's reign after Aegon V died (similar to why it occurred in the novels). This video firmly establishes that in the TV continuity, the War of the Ninepenny Kings occurred in the final years of Aegon V's reign. **A practical result is that in the TV continuity, Barristan was elevated to the Kingsguard by Aegon V, not Jaehaerys II - though either way, the point stands that he was in the Kingsguard before Aerys II was king. The novels specify that Barristan was earlier knighted by Aegon V himself after a tournament at King's Landing. Characters *Ser Barristan Selmy *King Aegon V Targaryen *King Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King *Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen *Lyanna Stark *Princess Elia Martell *Lord Robert Baratheon *Lord Rickard Stark *Brandon Stark *Lord Eddard Stark (mentioned) *Catelyn Tully (mentioned) *The Knight of the Laughing Tree (visible heraldry) *Maelys Blackfyre, "Maelys the Monstrous" *Prince Lewyn Martell *Grand Maester Pycelle *Varys *Lord Jon Connington, Hand of the King (unnamed) *Tywin Lannister (mentioned) *Walter Whent (referred to as just "Lord Whent") *Queen Daenerys Targaryen (indirectly mentioned) Noble Houses *House Targaryen *House Martell *House Baratheon *House Stark *House Tully *House Whent *House Blackfyre *House Frey (heraldry visible) *House Dayne (heraldry visible) *House Haigh (heraldry visible) Locations *Meereen *King's Landing **Red Keep ***Great Hall *Stepstones (unnamed) *Harrenhal *Trident Events *War of the Ninepenny Kings *Tragedy at Summerhall (indirectly mentioned) *Tournament at Harrenhal *Abduction of Lyanna Stark (mentioned) *Execution of Rickard and Brandon Stark *Robert's Rebellion **Battle of the Trident Miscellaneous *Iron Throne *Kingsguard *Dragons (mentioned) *Wildfire *Ravens *Small council *Grand Maester *Master of Whisperers *Hand of the King *Queen of Love and Beauty (seen, not mentioned by name) *Blue winter roses (seen, not mentioned by name) *Targaryen madness *The Warrior of the Seven (the idol with crossed swords Barristan prays to in his chamber at the beginning) Jaime Lannister's perspective Jaime Lannister: To be added Notes *This video again brings up the inconsistency about exactly how old Jaime was when he was elevated to the Kingsguard. Season 2 of the TV series said he was 17, then in Season 4 his entry in The Book of Brothers said he was 16. This video uses the number given in the novels, in which he was stated to be 15 when he joined the Kingsguard, not cross-referencing with prior changes introduced by the TV continuity. *Cersei's actions in the video match those in the books, and if they don't make sense, it is simply an example of Cersei's short-sightedness: it seemingly never occurred to her that her father Tywin would be so furious at his firstborn son and heir abdicating that he would resign and leave the capital, taking Cersei with him. Characters *Jaime Lannister *Cersei Lannister *Tywin Lannister *Lysa Tully *King Aerys II Targaryen *Vaerys *Grand Maester Pycelle *Queen Rhaella Targaryen (mentioned but not named) *Prince Viserys Targaryen *Ser Gerold Hightower *Rickard Stark *Brandon Stark (son of Rickard) (seen, referred to as Rickard's son) *Wisdom Rossart (appears but unnamed) *Eddard Stark *Robert Baratheon Noble Houses *House Targaryen *House Lannister Locations *King's Landing *Dragonstone *Harrenhal Events *Tourney at Harrenhal *Robert's Rebellion **Sack of King's Landing Miscellaneous *Kingsguard *Alchemist's Guild ("Pyromancers") *Dragons *Iron Throne *King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men Category:Histories & Lore Category:Robert's Rebellion